Surgical mesh has been used for many years in a vast number of surgical interventions. It is basically a thin delicate sheet with a smooth surface that is manufactured from different materials with various orientations of the intersections for more elasticity. The surgical mesh is applied in a wide variety of wounds or tissues to aid in supporting and reinforcing the soft tissue that has been weakened in a human being.
The Food and Drug Administration (FDA) has reported that more than one million hernia repairs are performed each year in the United States and of these approximately 800,000 are for inguinal hernias that occur in the inner groin. Approximately 90% of such repairs involve mesh based repairs that typically result in reduced recurrence rates, decreased operative time and minimized recovery time.
In laparoscopic surgery small incisions are used to insert instruments that are manipulated from the outside of a human body under the visualization of a camera to grasp, cut or dissect tissue. The surgical mesh is inserted through a small incision and manipulated inside the body using different instruments. The manipulation involves a lot of fine movement to open and spread the mesh.
A ventral hernia repair is disclosed in a U.S. Patent Publication Application No. 2011/0130774 of Criscuolo et al. wherein a compact roll of mesh is inserted into a human body. As disclosed, a compact roll of mesh has a distal end attached to a needle with the needle oriented substantially parallel to the longitudinal axis of the rolled mesh. A laparoscopic device is configured and dimensioned to transfer the rolled mesh into a body cavity and means for unrolling and laying the rolled surgical mesh under a ventral hernia in an abdominal wall is also provided. The reference also discloses means for threading the needle and for making a suture through the surgical mesh and the abdominal wall as well as means for trimming the suture.
A U.S. Pat. No. 6,551,356 of Rousseau, discloses a device for surgically repairing and reinforcing a hernia. The device includes a hernia prosthesis having a substantially planar base portion and an overlay portion, each formed from a biocompatible material. The overlay portion is peripherally attached to the base portion to define a pocket to receive a surgical instrument or a surgeon's finger for placing the prosthesis within the human body. The pocket may be formed with releasable stitching to enable it to be flattened or removed after placement and maintain a resilient member that urges the prosthesis into a flat configuration.
A second U.S. Pat. No. 6,755,867 of Rousseau, discloses a hernia repair prosthesis with an occlusive member for inserting and/or backing the herniated tissue. An overlay sheet is attached to the occlusive member by a filament which permits the occlusive member and the overlay sheet to slide relative to one another along the filament allowing the maximal positioning of the overlay sheet to provide the best surgical attachment, orientation and alignment with a patient's anatomy.
Notwithstanding the above, it is presently believed that there is a need and potential commercial market for an improved surgical mesh with integrated threads in accordance with the present invention. There should be a need and a commercial market for mesh in accordance with the present invention because such mesh provides faster surgical procedures with less trauma to a patient, reduced rates of infection and speedier recoveries.